February 2009 - Posts
Charleston, S.C. (Feb. 25, 2009) – Blackbaud, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLKB), announced that The Tesseract School in Eagan, MN is among the increasing number of schools that have turned to Blackbaud’s new Student Information System, a hosted solution created exclusively for small independent schools. Blackbaud for Small Schools™ combines the Blackbaud solutions only a small independent school would need, helping them to manage student information more efficiently and keep track of critical student data, while giving teachers the tools they need to help students succeed.
Read the full press release here.
From the February issue of ASSOCIATIONS NOW:
This year could be one of the roughest for giving in recent memory. In January the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University reported that its Philanthropic Giving Index, which measures confidence in the fundraising climate, dropped 22 percent in the prior six months, hitting its lowest level in more than a decade. That news comes in the wake of a weak close to 2008. A survey conducted by the Association of Fundraising Professionals notes that during last year’s holiday season, 53.3 percent of the survey’s 347 respondents (culled from AFP’s membership) raised less money in late 2008 than they had in 2007. That’s a big change: The association’s 2007 survey reported that only 26.3 percent of respondents were having a down year.
The recent dip in confidence echoes a broader downturn for nonprofits, whose revenues have declined 8.1 percent in the past three years, according to Cambridge, Massachusetts, research firm Target Analytics. How to ride out all that turbulence? Steve MacLaughlin, director of internet solutions at nonprofit consultancy Blackbaud, Target Analytics’ parent company, argues that online strategies, while only part of the fundraising mix, can help organizations save money and gain some flexibility in a downturn. "Mixing email and direct-mail segments can lower costs," he says. "Online donations, event registrations, and memberships also have a lower cost of fundraising associated with them. Doing things online also allows you to test content or promotions, get feedback a lot sooner, and allows you to adjust things prior to using more expensive channels."
Read more here.
Launched in 2006 by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), this project aims to help nonprofit organizations measure, compare, and maximize their annual growth in giving. By participating, you will be able to identify areas where you can improve and make better-informed, growth-oriented, budget decisions to boost donor revenue.
What is the project?
The Fundraising Effectiveness Project is a simple way for nonprofits to compare their fundraising gain and loss ratios from year to year and compare against other similar organizations. The Project was created with one principle in mind: growth in giving from one year to the next is the net of gains minus losses, and growth in giving is increased both by maximizing gains and minimizing losses.
How can you participate?
It only takes five minutes, and it costs nothing to participate.
Blackbaud has partnered with AFP to make it easy to participate. And by participating, your organization will receive the compiled data when AFP publishes the report.
In the "Plugins" section of The Raiser’s Edge, users will find the “Fundraising Effectiveness Project Plug-in," which will allow them to easily compile the required information for the survey and submit it electronically. The survey does not transfer individual donor information, only statistics of the overall giving program (e.g., number of new donors, repeat donors, lapsed donors, etc).
The Fundraising Effectiveness Project Plug-in only takes a few minutes to fill out and run, and not only will it give nonprofits a better idea of their giving, but it will also help the entire nonprofit community by contributing data to the overall project.
Read more online about how to use the Fundraising Project Effectiveness Plug-in.
To learn more, attend our free web seminar The Fundraising Effectiveness Project: Why Aren’t You Involved? hosted by Jim Bush on February 24, 2:00 p.m. ET
Peter Panepento, the "voice" behind The Chronicle of Philanthropy's twitter account @philanthropy, and their guru web editor has done a great job in pulling together nonprofit experts around key issues facing nonprofits today in The Chroncile's "Live Discussion" series.
One of the things many nonprofits may be considering cutting back on in this economy is - you guessed it - special events. However, as the panelists in the recent Chronicle Live Discussion "Planning Special Events During a Recession" prove, a little creativity goes a long way. Check out the transcipt of the recent session with Staci Bennett, Blackbaud's event marketing manager (and a die-hard volunteer); Ami Cervin, an events planner for the Greater Twin Cities United Way in Minneapolis; and Jim Leighton, director of events and programs for the Children's Cancer Research Fund in Minneapolis.
View upcoming and other recent dicussions at http://philanthropy.com/live/.
Allison Van Diest, Blackbaud’s senior product marketing manager, talks with David Kinard, host of Marketing News Radio, about the challenges of effectively engaging constituents with online marketing. In this podcast, Allison covers subjects like event registration, email tactics, website analytics, online communication and fundraising, and donor development.
Listen to all four segments!
Remember when you were a kid and had those coveted "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" books? How cool was it that you got to choose the outcome?!?
We think that nonprofits should have that choice too. No one knows better than nonprofit staffers how hard it is to keep fundraising on the upswing in this challenging economic environment. That is why we are continuing our free event series Blackbaud Delivers in 2009 and are once again tailoring content to meet the regional needs of nonprofits, providing them with actionable strategies that will help them address the top issues they’re facing.
Blackbaud Delivers began offering these practical nonprofit management seminars last year. View the 2008 Blackbaud Delivers archive of events and content here. This year's Blackbaud Delivers series kicked off yesterday in Atlanta and Houston and will continue on to major cities across the country throughout the year. Select events will also be available on the web. Attendees of these free half-day seminars will be invited to vote on topics prior to the event, and the session in each city will be tailored to addressing the major concerns expressed by those in the area.
The 2009 Blackbaud Delivers topics include:
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Elevate your Elevator Pitch: The Power of Positioning and Differentiation
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There Ought to Be a Law: Best Fundraising Practices We Probably Do Not Practice
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Branding Your Nonprofit in a Tight Economy
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Successful Fundraising when Most Giving is Going Down
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Helping Train Your Board to Fundraise With You
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Email Marketing: The Right Message, The Right People, The Right Time
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Email Marketing: Building and Executing Campaigns that Drive Results
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What Social Networks Should Be Doing for You
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The Changing Nature of Online Fundraising
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Strengthening Your Loyal Donor Base through Personal Conversations
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Starting a Planned Giving Program
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Building an Action Plan to Out-Hustle the Economy
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Donor Acquisition When Acquisition Isn’t Ideal
Nonprofit experts from Blackbaud and Target Analytics™, including: Samantha Cohen, Lawrence Henze, Steve MacLaughlin, Katherine Swank, and Allison Van Diest along with recognized experts from throughout the sector including Marc A. Pitman will be featured. The seminar series is open to the public and attendees do not have to be Blackbaud customers to benefit from the materials that will be covered.The event series will include stops in Vancouver, New York City, Boston, Ottawa, Denver, Chicago, Arlington, and Minneapolis, with additional cities to be announced.
Registrations are now being accepted at www.blackbaud.com/blackbauddelivers. If Blackbaud Delivers is not coming to a city near you, be sure to stay tuned for live web seminars that will feature the most popular session topics.
At Blackbaud, one of our core values is "service to others makes the world a better place." We recently launched a blog that focuses on just that. In it, Rachel Hutchisson, our director of corporate relations and philanthropy will share her adventures in philanthropy. She will blog about what we are doing to make a difference in the world, as a company and as individual people committed to civic engagement.
Visit the Service to Others blog and welcome Rachel Hutchisson to the Blackbaud Blogosphere!
Want to learn more about our philanthropy program? Visit www.blackbaud.com/philanthropy, or read about our Philanthropy 2008 year-in-review: Blackbaud Increases Philanthropic Focus as Nonprofits Face Difficult Times.
In the article Increasing Data Security in an Increasingly Insecure World, reporter Jeff Merron of Nonprofit Technology News discusses the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and online security with Blackbaud’s Bucky Wall, director of corporate readiness and Jake Marcinko, manager of information security.
“The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit consumer organization, maintains, on its Web site, a chronology of U.S. data breaches. The list, which the organization began in January 2005, provides the basic details of hundreds of breaches in the for-profit, government, educational, and non-profit (charitable) sectors; breaches are common enough that the list is updated twice a week. The total number of records containing sensitive data that have been involved -- again, this is just in the U.S., and just in three years -- 252,276,766…”
Read the full article…
As a member of the PCI Security Standard Council, Blackbaud provides many PCI and security resources, including web seminars and a dedicated PCI blog.
In the article Share and Share Alike in the February issue of University Business, writer Elizabeth Millard takes a look at shared services partnerships and how they can be a boon to the bottom line, as well as a good way to establish relationships between institutions.
Millard shares four rules that make these partnerships work:
1. Start with a simple project, and get more complex later.
2. Get leadership and directives from the top, but involve support staff and vendors.
3. Be sensitive to cultural issues that come with process changes.
4. Keep the agreement formal in group structure and policies.
The article also features a case study on The Florida State University Foundation's recent project with Blackbaud.
To hear more about the project, and what made it a success, visit http://www.blackbaud.com/customers/highered/fsuf.aspx to view a video interview with Jeanne Pecha, assistant vice president of Advancement Services for The Florida State University Foundation.
Solution will be used by all programs and ministries to better serve 6200 congregations and 2.4 million members
Charleston, S.C. (Feb. 3, 2009) – Blackbaud, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLKB) today announced that The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) will partner with the company on a multi-year project to change the organization’s strategic approaches to constituent relationship management, financial management, and online collaboration. With the aid of Blackbaud’s solutions and services, the LCMS will develop new business processes, procedures, and information systems to support a holistic view of the constituent.
“This project will play a key role in our continuing effort to fully engage our members and support our ministries in their work around the globe,” said Ron Schultz, LCMS’ chief administrative officer. “Blackbaud provides a solution that will help us share the impact of the powerful work of the LCMS and is a company committed to long-term product development and investment in talented people that understand the mission of organizations like ours.”
Read the full press release, or watch a video interview with Alan Meyer, executive director of Concordia Technologies, which manages LCMS information technology resources and support.